Frostbite
by The Mangosity
Summary: While on a mountaintop, Sora is buried under a pile of snow. Now it's up to Riku to get Sora to shelter and tend to his injuries before it's too late. Now that Sora’s life is in Riku’s hands, what’ll be Sora’s fate?
1. Snow

This story is a _very _special story. Not as special as the very first story, but still, very important. Why you may ask? Well, it's because it has a Spanish counter-part! That's right people! This story appears _twice _on this website! I think that is very cool and I hope that some of you who may speak Spanish, will go read Frostbite's twin. Now that the, "important," stuff is out of the way, it's time you started reading:

Frostbite

Riku and Sora trudged through the cold and rocky mountains of the arctic world known as Vladmire, aiming to reach the top. This was because they thought that the Key Hole might be up there since it was the center of the world. To make the trek even harder than it already was, the wind had started blowing the snow all over the place.

"How much farther is it?" asked Sora, trying to keep himself as warm as he could.

"I don't know," Riku said looking up towards the peak, "But I think we're getting close." Sora looked up now since he had been looking down and something caught his eye. Snow was trickling down a little ways in front of Riku and shifting his gaze upward Sora saw that a large clump of snow was loosening itself from the mountain.

"Riku," he called, but there was no time for Riku to react. One moment he was flinching, waiting for the snow to crush him, and the next moment Riku was sailing backwards, propelled by an unknown force.

Sitting up he saw a small, gloved hand sticking out of the snow, "No," he cried running over to the pile He immediately started digging and after a few minutes he had Sora's head and shoulders exposed. Riku put his hands underneath Sora's arms and pulled as hard as he could. He stumbled backwards a little bit but did didn't let any part of Sora touch the freezing snow.

"Sora," Riku said, trying to warm Sora's now exposed hands with his own.

Sora moved for a moment before opening his eyes and murmuring, "Riku are you okay?"

Riku was speechless, "Sora, how can you say that? You're the one that was just buried under a giant heap of snow."

"Just wanted to make sure." Sora was awake for only a few seconds longer before sleep overcame him once more. Riku removed his gloves and put them on Sora's shivering hands before lifting him and heading up the slope, hoping that there would be a house along the path.

Now the snow had gotten even worse, billowing around him like the rain used to on his island when there was a bad storm. It was getting colder by the second, but Riku couldn't let this stop him. He had to get Sora to shelter before he died of hypothermia. He was shacking uncontrollably and was barely breathing and Riku could only pray that he would be alive once he found some sort of refuge.

His plea was finally answered as he came upon a cabin made of logs. He tried to knock on the door, but when he touched it, it swung open so he just walked in. Looking around, it seemed as if the house hadn't been used in a while since there was a murkiness about the place. Thinking no more about this, Riku walked down a small hallway and came to a bedroom that had a fireplace in the corner.

Since there was a dresser in the other corner, it wasn't long before Riku had Sora in the bed with a fresh pair of clothes on. He'd seen a pile of logs sitting at the side of the house so he went out there to get some as to start a fire. To add to Sora's warmth, Riku added three blankets on top of the one that was already on the bed.

"_That_'ll keep him warm," Riku thought, leaving the room to find another pair of clothes for himself since his were wet against his body.

Sora slept for the rest of this day and all of the next until 11:48 pm when he finally awakened. Moonlight streaming through the window and onto his face was what woke him. As his eyes slowly blinked open, he looked around and didn't know where he was. He sat up, but when his body started feeling heavy he had to lie back down on the soft pillow. In a few seconds, memories from a few days ago started coming back into his mind.

He felt a small tickle in the back of his throat and started coughing. It had never taken this much out of him to cough in his whole entire life, and after he was done he was tired. He would've drifted back off to sleep if the door hadn't opened revealing Riku in a soft gray sweater.

"Sora, you're awake," he said with relief, "You had me worried there." He came over and placed his hand on Sora's forehead. "And your fever's almost gone too."

Sora was confused, "Riku, what…" but Riku interrupted him.

"Don't speak Sora. Your still weak," he said, "Just go back to sleep now. You'll probably feel better in the morning."

"Yeah," Sora said, rolling over and wandering off to sleep again. Riku left the room and silently closed the door as not to disturb Sora.

**To Be Continued...**

Hey, to tell you the truth about this story, it was really supposed to be for my eyes alone, but then I made a Spanish version of it, and, well, I couldn't resist putting it up! So I hope you enjoyed the story that was never supposed to exist. This is The Mangosity saying, money can't buy you happiness. It'll only let you be unhappy in nice places. Good-Bye!


	2. Refuge

**Disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts isn't mine, but the idea of Vladimire is.

I'm Sorry! I'm just a bad person! I know it's been a long time, but this time I promise that this story _will_ be updated in three weeks or less! Also, to those of you who read the Spanish version of this, I am sorry that you're probably reading this from the afterlife on account of my horrible grammar. It was fixed though! Now, since you're all probably ready to kick my but, you may now start chapter two of:

Frostbite

"Good, he's sleeping now," Riku thought as he closed the door to the room where Sora was. He hadn't really considered the thing Sora had been doing all of this time sleeping, because it had been more of a restless daze. Now though, Riku could tell that Sora really was getting the rest he needed since he stayed still and wasn't tossing and turning as he had been before. Riku turned from the door and went into the next room to plop down onto the navy blue couch he'd been sitting in earlier. He tipped his head back and stared at the ceiling. "I can't believe we actually agreed to come here," he said out loud, "If I'd known all of this was going to happen I _never_ would have come here."

A few minutes passed before he realized how hungry he actually was. He stood up and started walking to the kitchen. The kitchen was down a hall that was directly opposite from the one that lead to Sora's room. The kitchen wasn't very big, but the good thing about it was that whoever had lived in the house before had stocked up on a lot of canned food before they left. Riku was planning to make some soup right now since he hadn't eaten all day, and was also planning to make some for Sora once he came around. By now he'd made it to the kitchen as he reached up to the topmost cabinet to pull it open. Shelves upon shelves of shiny silver cans lay beyond the two cupboard doors. Riku reached up, grabbed a couple of cans and started inspecting them.

"Now which one of these is soup?" Riku said out loud. The fact that he even had to ask this question was the bad thing about the kitchen. Apparently, whoever had lived in the house before had not only stocked up on a lot of canned food, but had also had the impulse to rip the labels off of all of the canned food. Riku took the two cans over to a drawer, wherein he knew there would be a few knives, and set them on the counter above it. He opened it and reached in to pull out a knife that was small, but that he knew would get the job done. He grabbed the leftmost can, stuck the tip of the knife into the top, and started carving away. Once he'd gotten the top off, Riku saw a light orange fluid with orange clumps in it. "Peaches," Riku grumbled, setting the can aside. He grabbed the other can and opened it too, but the only thing he could find in there were a bunch of pink fruits that looked like strawberries.

"Would it have killed them to put some kind of mark on their food?" Riku thought, referring to whoever had lived in the house before. He brought the two cans of fruit over to the other cabinet across the room to find a pot to put them in. They were both fruit so Riku didn't think it would do them any harm if he put them in the same container together. He put them in the refrigerator to his left so they wouldn't spoil. As Riku turned around to go back to the can-cabinet to open another can, his soup can from the previous day that was in the trashcan caught his eye. He'd been luckier the day before since the first can he'd picked out from the cabinet had been soup. He looked down at his can and noticed that it had a thin black line running around its middle. "Oh," Riku thought, "Is _that _mark?" He continued going back over to the other cabinet and scanned the rows of cans. Several of the cans had the same black line around them. Riku grabbed one of these cans, opened it with the knife, and sure enough it was filled with soup.

"Fina_lly_," Riku said as he went to go get a pot. He grabbed a pot, poured the soup into it, put it on the stove, turned on the fire, and waited for the soup to start boiling. After that he used a fork to get all of the noodles into a bowl, and then slowly poured in half of the broth. He poured the rest of it out in the sink. Riku now had a steaming bowl of soup, and was fairly content since he hadn't eaten all day. He'd been too busy tending to Sora's fever. Now though, Riku was walking towards the couch, carefully balancing the soup and making sure he didn't drop any of it onto the floor. He eased himself down into the chair, stuck his spoon into the bowl of soup on his lap, and blew at it to cool it. Sitting on the couch eating soup, Riku didn't know what else he could do. He wasn't all that sleepy, and Sora was okay for now, so there wasn't anything that needed to be done. "I'm bored," he blurted out. There was really nothing to do here, so Riku, therefore, _had _nothing to do. "Kairi," he thought to himself, "You are _so _going to get it when I get back." If it hadn't been for her, he never would have had to come here.

_2 Days Earlier…_

As Riku walked down the hall of the Gummi Ship, he expected to go to the kitchen to get a banana or something because he was hungry. He expected to go back down the hall to his room and get his book. He expected to read his book and either fall asleep reading it, or get called to go fight heartless on some world he'd never heard of. He did not, however, expect to get tackled from behind by his crazy best friend known as Sora.

"Riku Riku save me," Sora cried.

"Sora," Riku said as calmly as he could, "I'm going to give you three seconds to get off of me before I go Dark Aura on your butt."

"No Riku, you don't understand. It's Kairi. She…"

"Sora," Kairi cried. Her angry scream for Sora was so frightening that both Riku and Sora had to cringe. "You'd better get over here right _now _before I go Firaga on your butt."

"Oh great," Sora shouted, "That's twopeople wanting to cast lethal spells on my butt."

"Sora, get off of me," Riku yelled, obviously having lost patience with Sora.

He shrugged Sora off of him but Sora quickly scrambled back on top of him, pinning him down and whispering, "No Riku. _Listen_ to me. Kairi is having a bossy moment, and I mean a _really_ bossy moment."

"Well Sora, you're in a relationship, and in a relationship, you have to deal with the consequences of moody partners."

"Yeah I know but…" Sora paused. "Hey wait a minute, I'm not…"

"Just for _that_ comment," Kairi said, dashing over to Riku, pushing Sora off of him and then hauling him to his feet, "_You_ have to go with Sora."

"What? What do you mean I have to go with him?"

"You heard me," Kairi said, grabbing both Riku and Sora by the wrist and hauling them off in a completely different direction than the one Riku had been going. She dragged them all the way to the cockpit and pointed out the window. "You boys are heading for the scenic world of Vladmire. Sora hasn't sealed that Key Hole yet, so I'm guessing it could go with a visit." Riku's jaw dropped while Sora kind of just stood there with a disturbed look on his face. Vladmire wasn't scenic at all. At was basically just a giant oval shaped snowball.

"But Kairi, I don't want to go _there_," Riku said, but his protest was useless.

"Riku, you are going to Vladmire and whether you like it or not," Kairi cried, waving her finger around in Riku's face.

"Y…yes ma'am," Riku said, his common sense telling him better than to go up against Kairi when she was this goal oriented.

"Um, Kairi," Sora said, his voice hinting a little unease, "How come _you're_ not going to Vladmire?"

"Because," Kairi said, "Donald, Goofy and I are going to go take care of the heartless on other worlds. So while we do that, you're going to seal Vladmire's Key Hole, and Riku's going to help you get to it."

"Yeah, thanks for dragging me into this," Riku said, giving Sora an angry look.

"Hey it's not my fault you had to go and make the, "relationship," comment," Sora said, crossing his arms at Riku. Riku was about to say something else to Sora, but then Kairi cleared her throat and started talking again.

"You two come with me and I'll set up the teleporter," she said, shooing Riku and Sora off to where the teleporter was. Sora complied and quickly started walking in the direction that Kairi wanted him to go, and Riku, not really having a choice, started to follow him, but then he stopped.

"Hey," he said, turning around to face Kairi, "Kairi we can't go there now."

"Riku, _shut up,_" Sora hissed at Riku, but Riku ignored him.

"We're not dressed for the snow," he said, "I'm in a T-shirt and Sora's in shorts." Sora, who had been shaking Riku's arm, now stopped.

"Hey," he said, "Riku's right." The thought of not having to go into the snow brought relief into Sora's voice. "And if we don't have anything warm to wear that means we can't go to Vladmire."

"Well, it's a good thing the ship has a clothes dispenser," Kairi said with a smug tone. Sora's relieve left him like a record's needle being pulled away mid track.

Riku leaned over and muttered into Sora's ear, "Since when has the ship had one of _those_?"

"It always has," Sora muttered back, "I was just hoping she didn't know."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Kairi said. She started motioning them to walk again. "Get moving." Before either Riku or Sora knew it, they were both getting clothes suited for the snow from the clothes dispenser, changing into those clothes, and then being dropped off onto the snowy surface of Vladmire.

"Well, at least she let us wear jackets," Sora said, managing to grin in spite of the situation.

"Shut up and walk," Riku mumbled, picking a random direction and beginning his hike through the ankle deep snow.

"Hey wait for me," Sora cried, rushing after him.

To Be Continued… 

Once again, I'm sorry for the wait! I will _not_ let the distraction of other electronic devices distract me from writing ever again! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go play Kingdom Hearts II even though my other story Black Terrace hasn't been updated in four months. This is The Mangosity saying, what's with games that tease and taunt you with a secret ending by making you complete impossible tasks to _get_ the secret ending?


	3. Ice

**Disclaimer:** I don not own Kingdom Hearts.

I don't have anything to say…I'm bad…Enjoy the story…

Frostbite

The night passed quickly for Riku. One second he was sitting on the couch eating soup, and before he knew it cold air was nipping at his bare face. He opened his eyes to feel the unpleasant sensation of a biter morning on Vladmire. The whole situation was made even worse by the fact that he'd accidentally fallen asleep on the couch, and a small ache was slowly making its way up his back.

"Why did she have to pick the coldest world in the whole universe?" Riku thought, "I am _freezing_." He brought his arms closer to his body in an effort to warm himself and looked around. The room was drab and eerie at the moment, the morning light not quite making it through the layer of mist that had gathered on the windows. The fireplace was empty, and Riku knew that this was probably one of the reasons that it was so cold, but also had a feeling that it wasn't the only reason. "It's never been this cold any of the other days," he thought, walking over to the hearth and grabbing a log from the stack he'd set next to it, "This is ridiculous." The past two days had definitely been cold, but the frost had never been as crisp as it was right now. He tossed the log in his hand into the fireplace and summoned Way To Dawn.

"**Fire**," he called out, and in an explosion of light, the fireplace was aglow. Knowing that it was probably cold in Sora's room as well, he went down the hall to see if he could get a fire started in there too. The first thing Riku noticed as he opened the door was that the room was dark, but even through dim shadows he could still see Sora's form lying in the bed. The gentle breathing coming from under the sheets let Riku know that his friend was still asleep, so Riku was quick as he fetched a log from the front room and quiet as he crept over to Sora's hearth to start the fire.

"I'll let him sleep for a little while longer," Riku thought as he glanced over at Sora, "Just until I can get some food ready." He left Sora's room to go to the kitchen, where he stood in the middle of the room and thought. The only food he'd eaten since he'd been on this world had been soup. He was tired of soup though. It would be perfect for Sora since he was bound to have a cold, and the soup would definitely help with that. It was not, however, perfect for Riku. Riku wanted something that _wasn't_ mostly liquid.

"I guess I could play the 'memory game' with the cans again until I get something good," Riku said aloud. There had to be something other than fruit and soup in these cabinets. He opened the cupboard above him and pulled out two cans, one with a black line running around it and one without. After opening a couple of bare cans Riku finally found something that wasn't any kind of fruit. "Beans," he said, his voice flat as he looked down at the watery looking things in the can.

After a few moments of consideration, Riku went over to the stove and poured the beans into the pot he'd left there the night before. With a few spices from the small drawer to his right, Riku knew he could make this work. After he'd finished making the beans the way he wanted them, Riku put them aside so that he could start making Sora's soup. He got the soup into another pot from the pantry, and was just about to turn on the fire when he was startled by a noise from the back room. It was a scream from Sora.

"Sora?" Riku gasped. He dropped the spoon in his hand and rushed out of the kitchen to go see what was wrong. As he passed through the front room, Riku saw that the fire he'd started earlier wasn't there anymore. It couldn't have been more than fifteen minutes since he'd started it though, so this was a surefire sign to Riku that something wasn't right. Outside Sora's door, Riku couldn't help but notice that things had gotten a lot colder. When he heard another scream though, he forgot about the cold and his hand shot out to the doorknob. The door wouldn't budge. "What?"

Riku tried once again to open the door, but it still wouldn't open. He knew it couldn't have been locked since he'd been able to turn the knob, so there wasn't any excuse for why the door wouldn't open. Riku looked up at the door and his eyes went wide at what he saw. Ice was slowly creeping over its edges. Something was definitely going on behind that door.

"Well," Riku thought, "At least this isn't my house." He lifted his leg up, and it only took one kick to send the door flying open. The thin layer of ice covering almost everything in the room barely had time to register in Riku's mind before Sora's voice came piercing into his ears.

"Riku," Sora shouted. Riku's head snapped to the left to find Sora, his midsection plastered to the wall by shards of smooth, shining ice, so that his feet hung suspended a few inches from the floor.

"Sora, what happened?" Riku cried, rushing over to Sora.

"I…I'm not so sure," Sora said, his voice having a dazed edge to it, "I was sleeping…" His voice trailed off for a couple of seconds. "When I woke up everything was c…covered in ice." He put a hand to his head as Riku started tugging at the ice that surrounded him. "A…and there was a heartless. I'm sure of that. It was a Sh…Shadow, but there was so…something weird about it." Sora paused. "Riku, c…could you please g…get me down now? It's really c…cold."

"I know Sora," Riku told him, "Just hold on." Riku was very much aware of how cold the ice covering Sora was, as the coldness had been the reason for why he had stopped pulling at it a few moments ago. "Keep telling me about the Shadow. What was weird about it?"

"Well, that's the th…thing," Sora said, "I c…can't remember."

"You can't remember what was weird about it?" Riku asked, his tone skeptical as he continued to try and get the ice off of Sora.

"No," Sora replied, "I know there was s…something that wasn't right a…b…bout it, but I just…" Sora gave a sigh. "It all happened s…so fast, Riku. It was like a dream. I barely even r…remember getting out of b…bed."

"Well do you remember how _this_ happened?" Riku asked, giving a gesture towards the ice encasing Sora.

"I th…think it was the Shadow," Sora said after a moment of thought, "I woke up and s…saw it, and…well…then I was here."

"So you _don't_ remember how this happened." Riku said, giving the ice one last tug. Instead of an answer, Sora gave a sudden gave a sneeze that made Riku jump.

"Ah…Riku…p…please get me down," he breathed, "It's st…starting to hurt."

"Okay okay Sora. Just hold on a little longer," Riku said, his voice insistent. Sora was starting to look sleepy, and the last thing Riku wanted was for Sora to fall asleep on him. "I have an idea." He summoned his key blade.

"R…Riku," Sora said, his voice testing, "What are you g…going to do?" Riku seemed to be studying the ice very carefully.

"If I can find the right place to hit," Riku answered, "I might be able to make the whole thing shatter." Now Sora was alert and wide-eyed.

"Riku, wh…what are you thinking?" he shouted, doing what he could to throw his arms over the ice, "What if you hit me?"

"Sora, I'm not going to hit you," Riku said, lowering Way To Dawn, "I know what I'm doing."

"C…Come on Riku. Isn't there another way?" Sora pleaded, "Can't you just use a f…fire spell?"

"So you're afraid of me hitting you, but you're not afraid of me _burning_ you?" Then a thought occurred to Riku. "Wait a minute. Can't _you_ just use a fire spell? The way you use fire you wouldn't be able to burn yourself and it would melt the ice."

"Well…" Sora's voice trailed off as if he didn't want to answer, and then he said something softly. Riku hadn't heard it, and it was obvious that Sora was reluctant to say it.

"What?"

"I'm afraid I'll f…fall."

"You're afraid of _falling_?" Riku asked, his voice loud and disbelieving.

"Yeah."

"Oh come on Sora. You're being a wimp."

"Hey, you're n…not in my position," Sora retorted, "F…from where I am the ground looks very…far away."

"Okay, you're afraid of falling. That's okay," Riku said, making to dismiss the subject, "But just cast the spell anyway."

"Have you even listened to me once this entire time?"

"I'm right here, Sora. I won't let you fall."

"You?" The tone Sora took made it sound like he practically hated Riku.

"Yes, me," Riku said, sounding slightly offended, "What, you don't trust me?"

"No, it's not that. I'm just n…not one of the girls from school," Sora replied, his voice flat, "I don't d…dream of falling into your arms every night."

Riku went slightly red at this.

"Look Sora, it's either that or freeze to death."

After some consideration, Sora sighed and said, "Fine then. Just don't drop me…" He reached his hand out and summoned the Key Blade. "**Fire**," he shouted. Ribbons of fire came up and surrounded Sora, whirling around him and instantly melting the ice. He gave a small cry as he fell through the air, afraid that Riku had forgotten to catch him. This was not the case, however, as he soon made contact with Riku's outstretched arms. Riku set Sora's feet onto the ground, trying to help him regain his balance, but it wasn't long before Sora's legs buckled under his own weight. Riku went down with Sora, letting Sora's back rest against one of his arms.

"Hey, Sora," he called, shaking the trembling form, "Sora do you feel all right?" The Key Blade disappeared from Sora's grasp, so Riku knew his friend couldn't possibly have been asleep. After a few moments Sora slowly opened his eyes to face Riku.

Through chattering teeth, he let out a small, "Riku…I'm…c…cold." Then his eyes slipped closed.

"Sora," Riku called, alarmed by how suddenly Sora had fallen asleep, "Sora wake up." He tried shaking Sora, but there was no waking him. He was fast asleep. After trying, and failing, to rouse Sora a few more times, Riku took Sora into his grasp and stood. He went to the door and left the room, taking Sora from the frozen wasteland that really couldn't be considered a room anymore.

As he carried Sora down the hallway and into the front room, Riku knew something had gone on in that room other than what Sora had told him. He knew Sora hadn't lied to him, but there was something that wasn't quite right about Sora's story. According to him a Shadow had done all of the damage to the room, but Riku knew Shadows to be weak, scrawny creatures. Even in his weakened state Sora could've easily taken care of one. Then there was the matter of the ice.

"Maybe he just made a mistake," Riku thought, laying Sora out on the couch, "Maybe it was a different heartless." He brought a soft hand up to Sora's forehead and frowned. His fever was up again. "Are you _ever_ going to get better?" Riku said aloud, noting that Sora's shivers hadn't quite subsided.

As he went to his own room to find a blanket, Riku knew the answer to his own question. Sora probably wasn't going to get better until they were off of Vladmire and back on the Gummi Ship. Kairi had said that she, Donald, and Goofy would be back to pick them up in five days, the time it would probably take to find the world's Key Hole. Since the day's morning had barely even begun, it would be about three days until they could get back to the ship. Riku sighed. This was going to be a long three days.

After a few minutes of rummaging around in his room's dresser, Riku finally found a tightly weaved blanket that was of moderate size. He brought it back into the front room and spread it out over the still shivering Sora, and after checking Sora's fever one last time Riku restarted the fire. After this he went into the kitchen.

The beans he'd made were cold, and he hadn't even started making Sora's soup. He picked the spoon that he'd dropped earlier up from the floor and washed it in the sink. Then he went back over to the stove and turned the fire on underneath the soup. The fire was a little higher than he normally would have made it, since he really wanted to get this over with. He didn't want to leave Sora alone for any longer than he needed to. He didn't need a repeat of this morning. He would make the soup and then set it aside, since Sora was resting now. He probably wouldn't feel up to eating it until a little later.

* * *

_He reached his hand out and summoned the Key Blade. "__**Fire**__," he shouted. Ribbons of fire came up and surrounded Sora, whirling around him and instantly melting the ice. _

_**Falling…**_

_**A Voice…**_

_**Darkness…**_

These were the last things Sora remembered from the icy, cold before. Now he was somewhere warm. It was dark, but at least it was warm, perhaps, uncomfortably warm. It was better than the cold though, so he settled for uncomfortably warm rather than bitterly cold.

There wasn't a sound here in this void, apart from the sound of his own breathing. There wasn't anything to be seen either. It was just black. He tried to move and found that he could, so he started walking, and walking, and walking. After what felt like hours, Sora found that there wasn't much anything here. There was only the same, consistent darkness. It was like he was walking on a treadmill.

He was just about to stop walking and throw himself to the ground to try and wake himself from whatever nightmare he'd managed to stumble into, when he spotted something up ahead. Sora moved towards the thing, not knowing what it was, but still curious about it all the while. When he realized what it was, he felt a fear-like excitement well up inside his stomach.

"No," he felt himself say. It was a Shadow, but it wasn't an ordinary Shadow. It was the same kind of Shadow that had made it cold before, the same kind of Shadow with somethingdifferent about it. Sora knew this something was very simple to identify, but there was something about him being here in this dark place that made it hard to think. His mind was just so clouded that he couldn't come up with the answer.

Sora really didn't care what was different about the Shadow at the moment. All he cared about was the fact that this kind of Shadow had brought him pain. The hard ice against his body and its suffocating closeness had just been too much for Sora. He didn't want to feel that again.

After a few seconds he found his voice and shouted, "Go away. Get out of here." He made shooing motions with his arms, but the Shadow didn't move, continuing its almost hypnotic dance that all of the Shadows did. Knowing that the Shadow wasn't going to leave, Sora reached his hand out and called the Key Blade. It didn't come. "What?" He stared down at his empty hand in disbelief, and then his eyes went wide as he looked up to stare at the Shadow.

It was the screeching pounce of the Shadow that jolted Sora awake. His eyes shot open and a startled jerk made its way through his body. The darkness was gone, but the warmth remained.

"Sora?" Riku's voice came to Sora's ear and he felt a hand at his shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"Riku?" Sora panted, his voice soft, his breathing ragged. The look on Riku's face showed that he wanted his question answered. Sora's expression relaxed a little as he muttered a quick, "Nightmare." He made to sit up but Riku kept his hand on Sora's shoulder, preventing him from moving.

"Try not to move around too much Sora," Riku said, "You'll get sick again if you do."

"Huh?"

"Just stay there," Riku said, unable to help the small grin on his face. Sora had grown so predictable as of late.

"Riku, why am I on the couch?" Sora asked, just noticing where he was.

"You couldn't sleep in the room you were in before." Riku pointed to the hallway that led to the room. "It's still covered in ice."

"Oh. Okay."

Riku said some other things and Sora tried to follow them, but he was tired, and it was hard. In a few seconds he'd dozed off.

**To Be Continued…**

I like to put this story up two at a time. One Spanish, and one English (there's another version in Spanish if you don't know) but the Spanish one makes me not want to write, since Spanish is not as easy for me to write as I want it to be. This is why this story likes to take a long time to come out. Don't worry though, I think I'll be able to get the next chapter(s) out in a timely manner! This is The Mangosity saying, looking back at my cooking-kitchen scenes, they're really boring.


	4. Encounter

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kingdom Hearts.

* * *

**Those of you who have been waiting for this chapter for a very long time may want to go back and read the last chapter first before reading this one! I took so long to update that it may be confusing for you if you don't…**

Frostbite

"…and you said you saw a Shadow, but I didn't find any so…" Riku stopped. Right in the middle of the conversation, Sora fell asleep. "Sora?" Riku called. Sora moved a little, but did not wake up. Riku thought of prodding Sora with his finger, but then decided against it, since he knew that Sora needed to rest. He sighed.

It had reached the point of midday, and Riku felt his will to remain on this world rapidly slipping away. He couldn't do anything about it though, so he settled for taking a nap. When he next woke the fire had gone out, and the sun had begun to set. He went to the hearth and restarted the fire, and when he turned back around he found Sora stirring awake. Before Riku could say anything Sora began to cough loudly.

"You okay?" Riku asked, once the coughs had died away.

Sora cleared his throat and replied with a soft, "Yeah." He reached for the blanket and pulled it around himself. "How much longer do we have to stay on this world?"

"Just two more days," Riku said. "They'll be coming back for us the day after tomorrow."

"And we still haven't found the Keyhole," Sora muttered, closing his eyes. "We may not be able to find it in two days."

"If we don't, we'll just have to come back another time," Riku replied. Sora gave no answer, and Riku knew that he had fallen back asleep.

Stretching, Riku stepped around the couch and went down the hallway to his room. He stayed awake for a few more hours before going to sleep.

The next morning, Sora woke before Riku. He sat up and yawned. He felt a lot better now than he had on any of the other days. He looked up and around at the musty house and realized that he had no idea where they were.

"I guess I never did ask Riku where this place was," Sora thought, standing from the couch. The chill made him reach back down for the blanket and pull it across his shoulders. He started to go search the house for Riku when he heard a soft noise behind him. He stopped in his tracks. He knew the noise well. He turned to face the heartless he knew had appeared behind him, and furrowed his brow.

It was a Shadow, the same kind of Shadow that had attacked Sora before. He dropped into a defense. He had no idea how he had managed to forget the one trait that set this kind of Shadow apart from normal Shadows. Unlike the kind that Sora usually fought, this Shadow was a vivid, snow-colored white.

It also knew blizzard magic.

Without warning, the Shadow reared up to its full height, and cold, hard ice came bursting form its mouth. Sora dropped the blanket and dove to the side. The ice landed squarely in the middle of the couch, freezing the whole thing over. He quickly summoned the Key Blade. If this kind of Shadow were anything like the usual Shadows, it would disappear with two or three strikes.

He jumped up and swung at the Shadow before it could make another move. It flinched, and Sora finished it off with a few more hits. He turned back to look at the frozen couch, inwardly wincing at the thought that this could have been him if he hadn't been fast enough. He bent down to pick the blanket up, as the temperature had grown significantly colder, when another Shadow appeared in the same place as the last one.

"What? Aga…" Sora began, but suddenly stopped. At least ten more ice Shadows emerged around the room. "Oh no," he thought. He backed away slowly, trying not to provoke them, but when all of them opened their mouths at once he gave a soft yelp and ducked down. All of the Shadows' ice attacks collided above him, and Sora rolled to the left to avoid being squashed by the giant hunk of ice that formed.

"Why so early in the _morning_?" Sora thought, jumping up. He ran into the throng of Shadows and cast a fire spell, knowing that this would be their weakness. Several of them went flying. Since they were all Shadows, it was relatively easy for Sora to destroy one, but they wouldn't stop coming. For each Shadow that Sora destroyed, it seemed that two more took its place. Soon the room had filled with Shadows.

A large group of the creatures suddenly surrounded him, and he almost managed to cast another fire spell when a Shadow jumped onto his back. Although the usual Shadows were already very cold, Sora found that these Shadows felt like ice itself. He tossed the Shadow off of him and destroyed it, and then cast a thunder spell to destroy the rest that surrounded him. He turned to stare around the room.

"This isn't good," Sora panted, realizing just how many Shadows had appeared. "There are too many, and there's too much ice." The front room looked nearly the same as the back room where Sora had confronted his first Shadow. "I need to find a way to…"

Sora screamed as an ice flurry smashed against his arm, incasing it in ice and throwing him back against the wall. He kneeled down, gripping his arm. The Shadows began advancing on him fast, and he knew they would overpower him if he didn't get out of there quickly.

"**Fire**," he shouted. The flames melted the ice around his arm and scattered the Shadows. Before the heartless could collect themselves, Sora scrambled over the ice couch and ran down the hallway. He rushed through the nearest open door that he saw and slammed it shut behind him.

"Sora?" came Riku's sleepy voice. Sora looked to the bed in the room and found Riku sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "Wha…"

"_Riku_," Sora shouted, his voice almost angry. "How could you _sleep_ through all that?"

"Wait, what did I…"

"There are a thousand heartless out there trying to _kill_ me."

"There are heartless here?" Riku asked, suddenly wide-awake.

"Yes," Sora replied, walking over to the bed and crossing his arms. "And they're the same kind of heartless that attacked me before."

"Shadows?"

"Yeah, but this time there are a lot more," Sora said. "And these Shadows aren't like ordinary Shadows, Riku. They're…" With a deafening bang, the door to the room crashed open. The Shadows began pouring in.

"Watch out," Sora warned, as Riku jumped from the bed and summoned his Key Blade. "They're stronger than normal Shadows." As if on cue one of the Shadows opened its mouth, and Sora and Riku each had to dive to avoid the stream of ice that came flying towards them.

"They can use _ice_?" Riku asked, astonished by the now frozen bed.

"Yeah," Sora replied, standing. "Make sure it doesn't get you."

"Right. I'll take the hallway."

They jumped forward and began trying to clear the heartless away, but the more time passed the more obvious it became that the heartless were not going to leave anytime soon. As long as the Shadows stayed, the house grew colder and colder. Before long the cold temperatures became more than either of them could bear.

"We need to get out of here," Riku called from the hall. "There's too much ice."

"Well there's _snow_ outside," Sora called back. Riku fought his way to the doorway and closed it, and then locked it with the latch. They defeated all of the Shadows that remained in the room before Riku turned to Sora.

"All of our coats and things form before are in the closet over there," he said, pointing to the back of the room.

"But we need to destroy all the heartless," Sora replied, motioning towards the door. "We can't just leave."

"Sora, I don't think they're going to stop coming," Riku said, going over to the closet door. "And besides, it's way too cold in here. We're not going to be able to keep fighting much longer." He opened the closet door and reached inside. "We've been here a long time anyway. It's better for us to keep moving if we ever want to find the Keyhole in time."

Sora caught the coat and snow pants that Riku tossed to him. He started to argue with Riku, but then sighed.

"If anything bad happens out there, we may not be able to come back here, you know," he said, looking up at Riku with serious eyes. "Is that really something we want to risk?"

"Well, if anything really did happen, I don't think we would want to come back here," Riku replied. He dropped two pairs of snow boots onto the floor. "Just look over there." They both looked at the door to find ice slowly creeping around it.

"Whoa," Sora breathed. He looked back at Riku. "Okay, we probably do need to leave, but I do _not_ want to go that way."

"My thoughts exactly." Riku fastened his jacket's zipper and then went over to the window to open it. "We can just climb out through here."

"Does the weather look all right?" Sora asked, pulling on his boots.

"Yeah, it's just little overcast."

Sora sighed.

"Okay then, let's go."

Sora went though the window first, and as Riku hoisted himself through he heard the door to the room give a splintering crack.

"The heartless are breaking through the door," Riku said, closing the window once he was out of the house. "They'll probably want to follow us."

"That's not surprising," Sora replied, his voice sounding bitter. "Which way are we headed?"

Riku looked around.

"That way," he said, pointing off towards the left. Sora looked to see a wide trail that ran between a mountainside and an expanse of trees. "We were heading for the peak, remember?"

"Right."

They proceeded to hike up the trail. For the first half hour, they went at a good, strong pace, but as time passed Sora began to grow tired. He wasn't completely well yet, and as he lagged behind Riku noticed.

"Do you need to stop for a break?" he asked, turning to face Sora.

"No, I'm fine," Sora replied, quickening his pace. "I'm just a little tired from when I was sick."

"You're sure?"

Sora nodded.

"Okay. If you need to stop just say so."

They continued for about an hour longer before Sora's steps turned to trudges, which soon turned to stumbles. When Riku heard a soft thud behind him, he turned to find that Sora had fallen down.

"Hey, Sora are you all right?" he called, rushing to Sora's side.

"Yeah," Sora grunted, picking himself up from the snow. "I'm just…"

"You need to stop and rest," Riku interrupted, helping Sora to stand. "You know it."

"There _is_ nowhere to rest," Sora panted. "And besides, we're so close to the Keyhole." He looked around. "It's near here somewhere. I can feel it."

"Sora, I don't think…

"No, seriously Riku. I can _feel _it. I get this way every time we're near a Keyhole."

"Really? Can you tell where it is?"

"Riku, don't you think that if I could I would…"

There suddenly came a large crash from further up the trail. They jumped back and looked up to see that something extremely large had crashed through the mountain wall that ran along their right.

"W…what just happened?" Sora asked, trying to see through the cloud of snow and rubble.

"I don't know," Riku replied, "but I don't think we should stick around to…"

A paw the size of a coffee table extended out from the snowy haze and planted itself only meters away from them. They took a step back. Another paw came out and they took another step back.

"I really think we should run," Riku muttered, but neither of them moved.

The haze cleared, exposing a massive, fur covered beast. It stood on four legs, towering above the two. Thick tendrils sprouted from its broad back, and its gruesome face was surrounded by a lion like mane. Its fur was so crisp and white that it almost blended in with the snow. The emblem on its chest revealed it to be a heartless.

"I've never seen anything like it," Sora whispered, keeping his voice low to try and keep from being noticed.

"Come on," Riku whispered back. "I think we can get away if we go this way." They began to creep away toward the left, where a large array of pine trees extended forward and back ward. As soon as they made a move the creature's eyes snapped over to them.

"_Run_," Sora shouted, and they did. They darted between trees to try and lose the heartless, but it was agile. Its massive size did not keep it from moving between the trees, and soon it had caught up with them. With a lash of its paw it swept them from their feet. Riku smacked against a tree and banged his head, while Sora came to a rolling stop.

Once the world stopped spinning, Sora jumped up, and panicked when he saw his friend's limp form.

"Riku," he called, rushing over. He grabbed Riku by the shoulders and started shaking him. "Riku? Riku! Wake up!" Riku gave no response.

Sora looked up to find the heartless rapidly advancing toward them, and so he ran off to try and lure it away from Riku. It worked, and the heartless began chasing after him, but as soon as it drew close to him he felt one of the heartless' tendril's coil around his ankle. It drew him into the air, dangling him upside down.

"Let _go_," Sora shouted, summoning the Key Blade and swinging at the tendril. It dropped him to the ground, and he rolled to the side to avoid the heartless' stomping paw.

"I guess I'm going to have to fight it," Sora thought, jumping to his feet. He looked up at the heartless' strong legs. "There doesn't seem to be a weakness though."

The heartless lunged for him here, and he held the Key Blade up to block. Its teeth came crashing down onto the Key Blade, and Sora struggled for a moment before wrenching the Key Blade from the heartless' mouth and tossing a slash across its face.

"Okay, that's just gross," Sora said aloud, staring in disgust at the slobber dripping from his Key Blade. As if it had understood him and grown offended, the heartless roared angrily, and Sora began to run again. "How am I ever going to defeat this thing?" he thought, looking back. He barely managed to keep out of reach of the heartless' fangs.

In an effort to confuse the creature, Sora suddenly changed directions. The heartless skidded to the side, and he spun around and bashed it in the face. It stopped to catch its bearings, giving Sora some time to put some distance between them.

"This would be easier if Riku were awake," Sora thought, looking over to where Riku lay. He still hadn't woken up. "This thing's just so…"

Without warning, the heartless gave a great leap, and landed right behind Sora. Sora had no time to react, and could do nothing as the heartless slammed him onto his stomach with its paws.

"Hey, get o…" he began, but then the heartless bit into his left hand shoulder. Sora gave a pained scream and fought to wriggle free from the heartless' hold, but the heartless was too strong for him. It lifted its head up only to bite down again. "_Stop_," Sora shouted, almost begging. "Stop…" He almost gave up hope, but then an idea occurred to him and he gripped the Key Blade. "**Fire**," he called out. The heartless reared up in surprise, giving Sora the opportunity to crawl out from underneath it. He painfully got to his feet and ran to hide behind a tree as fast as he could.

"This isn't good," Sora winced, plopping down with his back against the tree. The heartless' fangs had ripped through his jacket, broken the skin. Now his arm was covered with blood. "Now how am I going to…" He stopped speaking as soon as he heard the heartless' running footsteps behind him. He held his breath and prayed that the heartless wouldn't be able to find him, but it had clearly seen which tree Sora hid behind. In a few seconds the tree toppled over as the heartless swung it's claw and batted it down.

Sora shot to his feet and tried to run, but the pain in his arm caused him to trip. Before he could get up again, he felt the heartless' tendrils slip underneath him and coil around his chest. They pinned his arms to his sides and lifted him into the air.

"Hey, put me down," Sora cried. He began trying to kick the heartless in the face, but quickly stopped when it's jaws almost clamped down onto his foot. He struggled and fought until the tendrils suddenly squeezed so tightly that he couldn't breath. The heartless tossed him against a nearby tree, and he cried out. He fell to the cold, hard snow.

Groaning, Sora pulled himself onto his back. Everything ached, and his left arm hurt so much that he knew it just had to be broken. The heartless slammed its paws into Sora's chest, winding him. It roared, and Sora closed his eyes, preparing himself for the worst.

**To Be Continued…**

Hm… Chapter Four _was_ supposed to be the last chapter, but I ended up writing so much that I had to split it into two. Plus, you all would kill me if I ended it here! So Chapter _Five_ will be the last chapter. I hope to see you then! This is The Mangosity saying, yard sales are actually pretty cool! Except when people steal the things that are obviously marked as sold to _you_… *_sniff_*


	5. Outcome

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kingdom Hearts.

* * *

Uh huh! Oh yeah! Who's bad! I updated. On. _Time_! YEAH THAT FEELS GOOD! Okay, enjoy the story…

Frostbite

Riku woke with a groan. The last thing he remembered, he and Sora were running from a giant heartless. After this his memory went blank. He started to sit up, but then a shooting pain erupted in the back of his head.

"_Ah_," he hissed, gripping his forehead. He waited for the pain to die away before attempting to sit up again. "I must have hit my…"

A scream from Sora jerked Riku's attention to a faraway tree, where he could only watch as Sora fell face first to the ground. He saw the heartless from before charging to the spot where Sora had fallen, and realized that Sora had tried to fight it alone. As the heartless stomped down onto Sora's chest, Riku jumped to his feet and summoned his Key Blade.

"Hey, get away from him," Riku shouted, running toward the heartless. The heartless either didn't hear him or ignored him. "I said get _away_." Riku tossed his Key Blade at the heartless' side and it finally looked back. "Why don't you try _me_ you mangy…thing." The heartless growled for a long moment, before taking off towards him. Riku stood his ground until the heartless got close enough, and then cast Dark Shield. Its face slammed against the light, and when it fell off balance Riku cast Dark Aura, dazing it.

As the heartless stumbled about, Riku looked to Sora. He stood on wobbly legs, clutching his bloodied left arm. He made to take a step forward, but a pained expression suddenly came to his face, and he staggered to the ground. Riku rushed over to Sora and kneeled down.

"Sora," he called, shaking Sora's shoulder. "Say something."

Sora gave a few coughs before softly asking, "Was 'mangy thing' the best you could come up with?"

"I was on short notice," Riku replied, helping Sora to sit against the tree. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a blue flask. "Here, drink this." Sora accepted the flask, and Riku looked behind him to check on the heartless. It had almost recovered from his attack. "Drink quickly, Sora. We can still get away before the heartless notices, if we hurry."

"We don't need to run away," Sora said, once he had downed the flask. "We just need to work together."

"W…What?" This surprised Riku greatly. "But Sora, look at what it did to you." He pointed to Sora's left arm, which still had plenty of blood on it. "You honestly still want to fight it?"

"Oh, it only got me because I tried to take it on alone," Sora replied, moving his hand to the side to push himself up. "Besides, it lifted me into the air, and I think I saw…" He suddenly gave a yell and grasped his arm.

"Sora?"

"My arm," he winced. "I think it might be broken."

"But you just drank a Potion," Riku said, looking down at Sora's arm. "That should have healed it."

"Potions can't heal broken bones," Sora replied, shaking his head.

"Well, are you sure it's broken?" Riku asked, glancing back at the heartless. "It could just be sprained."

"A Potion would have healed a sprain," Sora said. "We're going to need a Hi Potion for this."

"Well we're going to have to go find one then." Riku pulled Sora to his feet by his good arm. "We can't fight this thing if you have a broken arm."

"Of course we can," Sora replied. "You'll just have to do a lot of the work."

"Why do you always have to _be_ this way, Sora?" Riku groaned. "Can't we just get out of here before it really wakes up?" Riku motioned to the heartless, which was still staggering around.

"Stop complaining," Sora said. "Just listen. I have a plan." He pointed to the heartless. "Before when it lifted me up above its head, I got a good look at its back, and there was this weird red thing there."

"Weird red thing?"

"Well I don't know what it _was_," Sora retorted. "I just think that it must be its weakness."

"And why would this 'weird red thing' be its weakness?" Riku asked, crossing his arms.

"Because, every giant heartless like this that I've ever fought has had a weakness," Sora said. "And this red thing just seems to stick out. It's obviously…"

The heartless gave a roar, and they turned to see that it had completely shaken off its daze. It began to charge towards them.

"I'll lure it this way," Sora called over his shoulder, running to the left. "You just try to get onto its back."

"But Sora…"

"Trust me. It'll _work_."

The heartless began to chase Sora, and Riku sighed.

"Sora's completely crazy," he thought, summoning his Key Blade. He cast another Dark Aura spell, but since he had already used this attack on the heartless just a few minutes ago, it managed to shake it off. "I thought so." He rushed forward and held his Key Blade up. "**Thunder**," he shouted. Lighting came shooting down onto the heartless, and it flew up onto its hind legs. This gave Riku a perfect view of its back. The "weird red thing" that Sora spoke of resembled a smooth red stone. It sat right at the center of the heartless' back, in the middle of all the tendrils.

"Hey Sora," he called. "You were right. That looks like a definite weak spot."

"Use Strike Raid," Sora called back.

"Strike…what?"

The heartless turned to Riku with an angry glare, and Sora summoned the Key Blade.

"Like this."

He hurled the Key Blade forward at the heartless' back, and it gave a tremendous roar.

"Yes, _yes_ we really can win this," Riku shouted.

As the heartless spun around for Sora, Riku flung his Key Blade at the heartless' back, as Sora had done, adding in a few dark powers in the process. The heartless gave another roar, and this time it began to weaken, swaying back and forth.

"Riku, watch out," Sora warned, signaling for Riku to get back. "It's about to fall over."

Riku stepped back just as the heartless toppled down.

"_Phew_," Riku sighed. "I never thought we would actually beat it."

"We haven't beaten it yet," Sora called, running over. "You only stunned it. It'll be up again in a few minutes if we don't defeat it before then." Sora hopped over the heartless and went to stand in front of the red stone on its back. "We just need to get in a few good strikes right here." He lifted his Key Blade up, using both arms. "_Ah_." He shuddered and quickly brought his broken arm back down, mouthing a soft, "Ow…" He looked at Riku. "Maybe you should handle this," he squeaked.

"Sure," Riku replied, amused at how quickly Sora could forget a broken arm.

Riku shoved his Key Blade into the stone, and darkness began to pour from it. With a few more hits the stone shattered. The heartless gave a dog like whine, dissipating, and in a few moments its form disappeared. A shinning heart flew up into the sky.

The heartless' spoils burst forth from the spot, and Riku pointed to the Items that had spilled out.

"Hey, look. Maybe one of those is a Hi Potion," he said. They began to open the egg shaped canisters. Although they didn't find any Hi Potions, they did find a few Elixirs, which are much better than Hi Potions.

"Finally," Sora sighed, lifting his arms up and stretching them. "That was really starting to hurt." Riku didn't say anything, and when Sora turned to look at him he found Riku looking off toward the mountain. "What're you looking at?"

"That heartless came from the mountain," he said. "Doesn't that mean there must be something inside the mountain?"

"I don't know," Sora replied. "Let's go look."

They hiked back up to the slope to the trail from before and came to the spot where the heartless had burst from the mountainside.

"Hey, you were right," Sora said, peering into the large opening. "It looks like a cavern."

He gave a soft gasp.

"Wha…"

"Riku, the Keyhole's in here," Sora said, rushing into the cave.

"You really think so?" Riku asked, following Sora inside.

"Yes, definitely." Sora looked around. "It's so dark though. I can't see anything."

"Here." Riku pulled a small flashlight from his inside jacket pocket and clicked it on. From what they could tell, the cavern was huge. The walls on their left and right extended far ahead, and when Riku shined his light up at the ceiling, it didn't even reach the top.

Sora motioned for Riku to follow him.

"This way," he said, moving forward. "The Keyhole's further down."

"Are you sure?" Riku asked, following Sora.

"Of course," Sora replied. "Don't worry."

"I'm not worried."

"You sound worried."

"Well, we _are_ inside this mountain that a killer heartless came out of not too long ago."

"Hm…point taken." Sora looked around as if to make sure there were no "killer heartless" hiding anywhere. "There probably aren't any other heartless like the one we fought," he concluded. "Really huge ones like that are usually one of a kind."

"Let's hope so."

They walked in relative silence until they finally came to a back wall.

"Wait, this is it?" Sora asked, running his hand across the wall's jagged surface. "But the Keyhole feels so strong here. There's got to be another path somewhere."

Riku shined the flashlight all around the cave walls, but couldn't find anything.

"It looks like there isn't anything else here," he said, turning to Sora.

"But…but I can feel the Keyhole," Sora insisted, pointing to the wall. "It should be right here. It's practically screaming…"

The Key Blade suddenly appeared in Sora's hand and jerked into the air, pulling Sora's arm up. Riku pointed the flashlight up at the top of the wall, where the Key Blade was pointing, and they each saw the small indent of a Keyhole. A stream of light came from the tip of the Key Blade and jetted into the Keyhole, and they heard a large click.

"We…did it," Sora said, sounding surprised. He lowered the Key Blade. "Now what do we…" There came a low rumble, and rocks and rubble started falling from the ceiling.

"Watch out," Riku warned, pulling Sora back. "This could be trouble."

Instead of crumbling, as Sora and Riku expected it to, the wall in front of them began to fade and blow away, as if it were made of sand. The cavern suddenly filled with a dim light, as the crumbling wall revealed another passage.

"Hey, I think it leads outside," Sora said, advancing forward. "Let's go see." They walked until they reached the end of the passage, and a cool breeze blew against their faces. They had reached the outskirts of a town.

"Are we still on the mountain?" Riku asked, looking out at the town.

"We must be," Sora replied. "This place must just be on the other side." He looked at Riku. "I bet we'll be able to stay there somewhere until the others get here tomorrow."

"Yeah, we probably will," Riku agreed.

They went into town, found an inn, and slept for the rest of the day.

* * *

The next morning after waking up, Sora and Riku realized that their friends would be there to meet them in a couple hours. They had agreed to meet back in the place where their friends had first dropped them off, so after paying the innkeeper, they quickly made their way back over to the cave that they had come to the town by. They hiked down the mountain without any serious confrontations until they came to the cabin that they had stayed in before, but even then it was just a few of the ice Shadows.

Finally, they came to the clearing where the ship had dropped them off, and there the Gummi Ship sat waiting for them. Their friends had lowered the conveyor ramp, and stood around it waiting for them.

"Hey Sora," Kairi called, waving her arm in the air. "Hey Riku."

"How was your trip?" Goofy asked.

"Um…I wouldn't ask…" Riku began, but this had already set Sora off.

"I will _never_ come to this world, or any worlds like it, _ever again_," he shouted. He stomped up the conveyor ramp angrily.

"…What was that all about?" Kairi asked, staring after Sora with a confused look.

"Don't worry," Riku replied, a soft grin on his face. "I'll explain everything."

**The End**

And now this story is over! I hope everyone liked the way it ended! And thanks to those of you who were able to bear with the long waits between updates…


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